Perhaps it is possible to trick the space-borne body into behaving as though it was in 1g by continuously wearing an elastic garment that compresses the body longitudinally to the same extent it would be compressed if standing on Earth’s surface. Think full-body suspenders. If your height is 72 in. on Earth and 73 in. in orbit, the tension on the garment would keep your height at 72 in. The garment may not have to be a full-body model, including the head, but would have to be tolerable to the crewmember.
Coping with yet another downturn in the U.S. aerospace and defense sector and the need to manage the size of their workforce, companies are matching short-term solutions to what their executives hope are temporary problems (see p. 44). Results of the 2009 AVIATION WEEK Workforce Study suggest total job losses during this cycle might be limited to 10% with the use of salary freezes, furloughs, temporary shutdowns and other measures, far below the 40% of positions eliminated during the massive consolidation of the industry in the 1990s.
Boeing is flight testing new engine plug and nozzle configurations on a Continental Airlines 737-900ER testbed YH122 ahead of planned flights next year of CFM International’s CFM56-7BE “Evolution” upgrade.
Portuguese private jet operator Jet Republic abruptly shut down Aug. 20 after it failed to secure promised capital, according to communication director Lysbeth Fox. As a result, Bombardier Aerospace announced it had terminated firm and conditional orders for 110 Learjet 60 XR aircraft originally announced June 20.
French air accident investigation office BEA has formally terminated the second phase of the search into debris associated with the June 1 crash of Air France Flight 447 and is looking at how those efforts should be continued. The latest phase, which used surface and subsurface search tools, failed to locate wreckage of the Airbus A330-200 that crashed off Brazil.
Former U.S. national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley has been named to the board of directors of the Raytheon Co. , Waltham, Mass. He is a senior adviser for international affairs at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
How long will the epic fiction of the “2000 Surprise Requirements” myth persist for the VH-71? How does a company win a bid in January 2005 and announce two months later that it had not been aware of 2000 Defense Dept. and White House Military Office requirements? Are we really to believe NavAir kept all this from the design teams throughout a year-plus classified bidding process, expecting the aircraft would perform to its expectations? Let’s kill this fallacy.
Static fatigue tests are underway in Moscow on a Sukhoi T-50 airframe, according to Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, the chief of the Russian air force. The T-50 is being developed by Sukhoi to meet the air force’s fifth-generation fighter requirement, known as PAK-FA. The Russian air force commander says a first flight is due in November. Zelin, speaking at an Aug. 20 press conference at MAKS 2009, also confirmed that proposals for a two-seat variant of the aircraft are in development.
Israeli Gen. (ret.) Uzi Rubin, an acknowledged missile defense expert, says one alternative to a long-range X-band radar proposed by the U.S. for tracking ballistic missiles heading to Europe is the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense sensor being fielded now in the U.S. Army. The proposed site is now the Czech Republic. But Rubin says two AN-TPY-2s could be put in Turkey. With each facing in different directions, the coverage would be significant, he told the Space and Missile Defense Conference 2009 in Huntsville, Ala., last week.
The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization has prohibited the country’s airlines from leasing or buying Russian-manufactured aircraft, according to a report by The Moscow Times.com. The move follows two incidents last month that involved Russian-built aircraft and killed a total of 184 people on board.
Stephen Clyne has become vice president-aircraft management and Rita Berlin regional sales director for aircraft charter, management and acquisition services for Volo Aviation , Stratford, Conn. Clyne was vice president-client services for JetDirect Aviation/TAG Aviation USA Inc., White Plains, N.Y. Berlin held similar positions with Virgin Charter, Flight Options and Jet Aviation.
The likelihood of the U.S. establishing a fixed Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile interceptor site in Poland appears to be waning as the Pentagon is more sharply focused on the quick fielding of a land-based SM-3 system to protect Europe from an Iranian ballistic missile threat.
Pilatus Aviation is cutting work hours and scaling back PC-12 output. The company says the measure will result in a 15% reduction in work and affect 350 employees, but avoid layoffs. The move has become necessary because of the cancellation rate for the PC-12NG as well as a lack of orders for training aircraft. Company CEO Oscar J. Schwenk says he sees the measure as a short-term step. The production system is sufficiently flexible to quickly ramp up output when necessary, Schwenk indicates.
The death of the Russian Knights Su-27 display team leader, Col. Igor Tkachenko, in a crash while practicing for the MAKS 2009 air show cast a pall over the early days of the event. The Aug. 16 crash also reminded attendees of the inherent risks that display pilots accept. The show, held at Zhukovsky, near Moscow, from Aug.18-23, remains overwhelmingly Russian in terms of exhibitors and visitors, with some representation of European and U.S. companies.
Douglas Barrie (Zhukovsky, Russia), Alexey Komarov (Zhukovsky, Russia)
Russian air force ambitions stretch far beyond the $2.65-billion Sukhoi fighter order at the MAKS 2009 show. Aspirations include fielding an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) alongside its fifth-generation fighter and developing a next-generation strategic bomber.
Qantas has posted its first half-year loss in six years—although the deficit was moderate by the standards of airlines elsewhere, and the carrier says it can see early signs of a recovery in demand. The Australian airline group lost A$93 million ($77 million) in the first six months of 2009, 1.4% of its revenue of A$6.7 billion for the period. A year earlier it made a profit of A$351 million. Profit before tax for the financial year to June 30 was A$181 million. Budget subsidiary Jetstar Airways outperformed the much larger mainline Qantas-branded operation.
Don’t look for wild new ideas from the blue-ribbon panel reviewing human spaceflight plans. Bound by federal open meeting law, the panel has already sketched publicly what will be in its report. The devil, as usual, will be in the details. Under an Aug. 31 deadline, the panel is still hammering those out. It will organize the various scenarios already discussed into four or five options—ranging from the current Moon-first program to a straight shot at Mars—with sub-options based on funding and launch vehicles (AW&ST Aug. 10, p. 29).
The World Trade Organization is poised to issue its first formal ruling in the Airbus versus Boeing dispute over aircraft development subsidies, but that has not stopped the U.K. from releasing launch aid for the A350XWB, Airbus’s newest development project.
Paul Kaminski has been appointed chairman of the Defense Science Board through Dec. 31, 2011, and USAF Gen. (ret.) Lester Lyles vice chairman through Dec. 31, 2010. Kaminski is chairman/CEO of Technovation Inc. and chairman of the Rand Corp. board of trustees. He also was undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and technology from 1994-97. Lyles is an independent consultant who was Air Force vice chief of staff in 1999 and 2000 and commander of Air Force Materiel Command from 2000-03.
The new cargo facility for perishables set to open Nov. 1 at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) could have “an estimated $10 million in economic impact to the region in its first year,” says Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, which comprises the chamber of commerce and economic development and international business groups. The partnership is working with Houston Airports and Trammell Crow Co. to make Houston a major gateway for temperature- and time-sensitive cargo. Trammell developed the 61,484-sq.-ft.
Airbus has completed contract talks with Turkish Airlines regarding a previously disclosed order for seven A330-300s. The deal, initially announced in June and now formally in the order book, calls for Turkish to receive the first of the Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered widebodies in September 2010. Turkish plans to operate the aircraft, which will seat 289 passengers in a two-class configuration, on high-capacity, medium-haul routes.
George E. Minnich has been named to the board of directors of the Kaman Corp. , Bloomfield, Conn. He is retired senior vice president/chief financial officer of the ITT Corp.
Aug. 31–Sept. 3—Practical Aeronautics’ Short Course: “Introduction to Aeronautics, A Practical Perspective.” The Aero Institute, Palmdale, Calif. Call +1 (970) 887-3155 or see www.practicalaero.com Sept. 1-2—Technology Training Corp.’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Conference. Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. Call +1 (310) 563-1210 or see www.ttcus.com Sept. 2–3—21st Annual FAA/Air Transport Assn. International Symposium. Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego. Call +1 (304) 872-5670 or see www.airlines.org/2009hfsymposium
Africa’s airline business generally dances to its own tune. When times are good for airlines, the region’s carriers typically have benefitted less. Conversely, the current economic downturn has impacted the smaller airlines on the continent less severely than others. For many of the plethora of those African carriers, the main concern revolves around sorting out such legacy problems as a mismatch between fleets and route structures to come up with the right balance.
Adamworks’ Mod.uav modular unmanned air system demonstrator could fly by the end of October. The Centennial, Colo.-based company is on a fast-track development trajectory; manufacturing of the first demonstrator system began in June. At the same time, tooling for series production of air vehicles is being built to expedite a rapid market release of the all-composite Mod.uav. It is being designed as a family of scalable air vehicles from 5-12 ft. The flight-test model is in the 5-ft. configuration.
